Assistant Secretaries for Accountability,
Educator Quality Named for Public Education Department

(Santa Fe, NM)--Secretary of Education Dr. Veronica C.
Garcia today announced the appointment of two assistant education secretaries
at the New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED).

Appointed as assistant secretary for Accountability and Assessment
is Don E. Watson, Ph.D., director of Data and Research/Learning and
Results for the Colorado Department of Education in Denver, and as assistant
secretary of Educator Quality Support is James Ball, director of the
New Mexico Public Education Department’s Professional Licensure
Unit.

“We are very pleased to announce the appointments of these two
highly qualified individuals as assistant secretaries of education.
Dr. Watson brings a wealth of assessment experience to our team, particularly
from the standpoint of communicating the importance of student testing
to educators, parents and school communities. Mr. Ball has the proven
experience we need to advance the state’s new three-tiered career
system for educators. With his appointment, New Mexico will not skip
a beat in implementing the new system,” said Secretary Garcia.

Assistant Secretary Watson is a career educator who has been deeply
involved in Colorado’s education reform efforts. He has served
at the Colorado Department of Education as senior consultant for Student
Assessment (1989-1997), director of Student Assessment (1997-2001) and
director of Data and Research/Learning and Results (since 2001). In
his roles, he has addressed the changes and requirements faced by public
education in the era of standards and accountability and created an
effective and respected assessment program in Colorado. “These
skills will be essential in helping to move New Mexico’s accountability
agenda forward,” he said.

Assistant Secretary Ball has served since 2002 as director of the
NMPED’s Professional Licensure Unit, where he has worked to assure
that New Mexico maintains an adequate supply of high-quality educators
for the public schools. He led the effort to develop and implement the
three-tiered licensure system that increases expectations for performance
in the classroom in exchange for a career ladder for teachers that is
tied to professional salaries. “The time has come for a bold move
in promoting and assuring that every New Mexico child in the public
schools has a highly qualified and highly effective teacher,”
he said.